Month: February 2022

The St. Scholastica Day Riot (1355)

Oxford is one of the most prestigious universities in the world, but its history is not without blemish. In 1355, some students got into an argument with a local tavern keeper over the quality of his alcohol. This escalated into a physical altercation that then snowballed into an all-out riot between the university’s students and townspeople. When the dust settled days later, 63 students and a number of townspeople were dead. Which side paid reparations to the other for the next 470 years? Discuss

Dominique Pire (1910)

Pire was a Belgian Dominican friar who devoted himself to helping the poor and to promoting peace. Witnessing the horrors of World War II, he became active in the anti-German resistance. After the war, he devoted himself to caring for the refugees, writing a book about the issue, founding aid organizations, and building villages to house displaced persons. He was rewarded for his humanitarian efforts with a Nobel Peace Prize in 1958. What “university” did he found thereafter? Discuss

The Longest Professional Baseball Game

When players from the minor-league baseball teams the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings took the field at around 8 PM on April 18, 1981, they had no idea they would soon be making history. With the score tied, play continued into the frigid morning. Players burned broken bats for warmth, and the 1,740 fans in attendance dwindled to 19. The game was finally called at 4:07 AM after eight hours—and 32 innings. When the game resumed two months later, it took Pawtucket how long to win? Discuss

monk

ascetic – Pronounced uh-SET-ik, it is derived from Greek asketes, “monk, hermit.” More…

dean – Comes from Latin decanum, “chief of a group of ten,” and Greek dekanos, “a monk or dignitary in charge of ten others.” More…

nun – Derived from Latin nonna, the feminine of nonnus, “monk,” originally a title given to an elderly person. More…

monk, friar – A monk stays in a monastery; a friar does not. More…

USS Lafayette, Formerly SS Normandie, Burns (1942)

The luxuriously appointed SS Normandie was the fastest ocean liner of her day and carried such distinguished passengers as Ernest Hemingway, Fred Astaire, and the von Trapps before a twist of fate brought that to an end. When World War II began, the French vessel was docked in New York. The US seized her for use as a troop transport, but a fire broke out on the renamed USS Lafayette during the refit, causing her to capsize. Who claimed to have sabotaged the ship? Discuss

Ernest Tubb (1914)

Born on a cotton farm near the modern-day ghost town of Crisp, Texas, Tubb became an important country musician. His drawling vocals, unaffected lyrics, and espousal of the electric guitar made him a major influence on honky tonk. His radio program, “Midnight Jamboree,” helped launch such stars as Elvis Presley. Tubb once drunkenly fired a .357 Magnum at someone in Nashville. Luckily for the near-victim, who was not the man Tubb had been looking for, he missed. Who was Tubb’s intended target? Discuss

Summa Theologica

Summa Theologica was the first Christian attempt at a comprehensive theological system. Written by Thomas Aquinas—a 13th-century philosopher and a principal saint of the Catholic Church—it is a compendium of all the main teachings of the Church for the “instruction of beginners.” It addresses a range of topics including God, the creation of the world, morality, and the life of Christ. Though incomplete, Summa Theologica is Aquinas’s most important work. About how many pages is it? Discuss